Luton

Sergeant Joseph Charles Shaw

Sgt Joseph Charles Shaw, 570856, 17th Battalion London Regiment, was killed in action in East Africa on October 18th, 1917.

Parents Joseph and Mary Ann Shaw, of 1 Bolton Road, Luton, were informed of their son's death by Mr H. J. Read, on behalf of the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies. He had received a telegram from the officer administering the government of East Africa Protectorate informing him that Sgt Shaw was killed near Lindi [in present-day Tanzania].

Private Bertie Hawkes

Pte Bertie Hawkes, 88018, 3rd Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, died in the No. 14 General Hospital, Wimereux, France, on October 17th, 1917, suffering from the effects of gas poisoning. He was aged 20 and single.

His mother Rosa was living alone at 21 North Street, Luton, after her old soldier husband Alfred and her seven sons - Bertie plus Edward, Arthur, Cyril, Jesse, John and Norman - were serving in the Army either at home or abroad.

Sapper Frederick Jones

Sapper Frederick Jones, 522869, 225th Field Company Royal Engineers, died just after midnight on October 16th, 1917, after being wounded in the neck and thigh by an aerial bomb a short time earlier on the previous day.

He had only recently been discharged from hospital after being wounded by a shell falling on his billet on September 11th. Three men were killed and eight wounded in that incident.

Private Harry James Boustred

Pte Harry James Boustred, 235101, 1/4th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, died of wounds on October 11th, 1917, while being conveyed to a base hospital in France by ambulance train.

Pte Boustred had sustained severe wounds in the arm and thigh while fighting with the Gloucesters and died from exhaustion, according to a hospital sister in a field postcard sent to widowed mother Priscilla Boustred at 26 Russell Street, Luton.

Private Walter Stanley Peck

Pte Walter Stanley Peck, 33072, 8th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was killed in action in Belgium on October 1st, 1917. He was aged 24, single and a former employee of the Diamond Foundry, Dallow Road.

The son of Walter and Eliza Peck, of 66 Oak Road, Luton, he had enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment (5608) in November 1915 and was transferred to the Leicesters in December the following year in France.

Private Stanley George Thomas Impey

Pte Stanley George Thomas Impey, 40047, 7th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, died in hospital in Belgium on October 8th, 1917, from the effects of gas poisoning.

He was admitted to hospital on October 2nd. Three days later, a sister at the hospital wrote to parents George and Elizabeth Impey at 43 Bailey Street, Luton, stating that there was every hope of their son's recovery. But on the evening of October 8th he passed peacefully away.

Stanley's father was an employee of The Luton News, according to a report of Stanley's death.

Private Archibald William Clarke

Pte Archibald William Clarke, 241584, 1st East Surrey Regiment, died of wounds on October 6th, 1917. He had been at the Front only three weeks after having being transferred from the Middlesex Regiment (5865) to the East Surreys.

Archibald enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment in March 1916 and was stationed for a while at Canterbury after joining the East Surreys and gained a reputation for his talent as a pianist at the Y.M.C.A. and among musical circles there.

Gunner Edwin Ernest Jeffs

Gunner Edwin Ernest Jeffs, 144354, 'C' Battery, 74th Brigade Royal Field Artillery, was killed in action in Flanders on October 4th, 1917, "serving his gun like a hero". But in Luton he would be remembered as a founder and conductor of the Luton Orchestral Society, "a man who had just begun to develop those glimmerings of genius...as an outstanding exponent and interpreter of the profession he was so well fitted to adorn".

Gunner William James Bass

Gunner William James Bass, 111890, 238th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, in the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station, France, on the evening of September 27th, 1917, from wounds received on the battlefield the previous day.

A sister at the hospital wrote that Gunner Bass had been admitted with a severe fracture of the skull and a fractured arm. All possible was done for him, but to no avail and he passed peacefully away without regaining consciousness.

Rifleman Sydney David East

Rifleman Sydney David East, 451810, 1/11th Battalion London Regiment, was killed in action in Palestine on September 3rd, 1917. He was aged 24 and the son of William and Emily East, of Lyndhurst, 7 Moor Street, Luton.

In a letter to Mrs East, Second Lieut A. Hamilton wrote: "I tender the heart-felt sympathy of myself and and all the No. 11 platoon. Your son met what must have been an instantaneous death by a bullet wound in the head in a patrol encounter on the night of September 3rd.

Driver Horace Gwynn Harding MM

Driver Horace Gwynn Harding, 810760, 'A' Battery, 232nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, died in the 61st Casualty Clearing Station in Flanders on September 15th, 1917, from the effects of a gas attack the previous day.

Driver Harding had been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry. That was presented to his mother Florence Annie, of 87 Saxon Road, by the Mayor of Luton, Councillor Charles Dillingham, in March 1918 at the Winter Assembly Hall in Luton.

Lance Corporal Archibald George Dexter

L-Cpl Archibald George Dexter, 233498, 1/2nd Battalion London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), was killed in action in Belgium on August 16th, 1917. A chum on leave, Pte Smith, of New Town Street, Luton, said he had seen L-Cpl Dexter's party fall and had helped to bring them in and bury them. L-Cpl Dexter was killed instantly when a shell burst among the group of five men - all but one from Luton - whom he was in charge of.

Stoker 1st Class Horace Stanley Sharp

Stoker First Class Horace Stanley Sharp, K17954, Royal Navy, was killed instantly by a bomb dropped on Chatham Dockyard by a German aircraft carrying out a raid on Kent on the bright moonlit night of September 3rd, 1917. Six enemy aircraft had flown up the Thames Estuary to attack Sheerness, Thanet and Chatham, killing 107 Naval ratings and wounding 86 others.

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